Saturday, November 28, 2009

New Zealand will finish 2009 as the world's number-one ranked team thanks to an impressive 39-12 win over France at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille on Saturday.

A lot has been said about the state of the game over the past few days, but I challenge anyone calling for a change in the laws to go back and watch this game and then tell me that running rugby is dead.Tries are there to be scored if you've got the balls to have a go...and the skills to pull it off.

\This is what Test rugby should be all about. A ding-dong battle in the scrums, creativity amongst the backs and, most of all, a high-paced game that tested the skills of both attackers and defenders rather than just the kicking capabilities of the fly-halves and full-backs.

The All Blacks answered their critics with a wonderful display of positive rugby, and were rewarded with five tries.

While Tri-Nations champions South Africa have looked tired and uninspired on tour in November, New Zealand were full of zip and zest.Unlike against the Springboks, the French were unable to grab a stranglehold on the game with their powerful forwards as the visitors were eager to take the ball out wide at pace.

In fact both sides should be commended for the positive spirit with which they approached the game - the All Blacks however made the difference with their near flawless execution.

Perhaps most the impressive aspect of New Zealand's tour is the fact that - just like last year - they have yet to concede a try.

Power package: Sitiveni Sivivatu (left)

The French front row looked a like a pack of hungry wolves after winning there side a penalty at the first scrum and Julien Dupuy obliged by slotting the three points to give France the early lead. New Zealand however replied with a brilliant try from Sitiveni Sivivatu who simply blitz Vincent Clerc and Damien Traille, slicing between the two Frenchmen, who could little but watch him sailed by.

Les Bleus kept coming as Dupuy added two more penalties, including a second against the kiwi scrum to take the lead back at 9-7. But not for long.

The All Blacks second try was even better than the first as Sivivatu turned on the gas from his own 22 before finding Mils Muliaina up in support. (photo below)Dan Carter added the conversion and then a penalty to give the visitors some breathing space before the All Black scrum took their revenge by pushing the Tricolor pack backwards on the French line. Under the pressure Julien Bonnaire fumbled his pick up, allowing Jerome Kaino to dot down the loose ball.

Francois Trinh-Duc landed a long distance drop goal shortly before the half-time whistle to make the scores 22-12.The second half however belonged solely to New Zealand.

When Dupuy missed two early attempts at goal it became clear it wasn't to be France's day.

Cory Jane was next to get on the scoreboard with a classic individual try, collecting his own kick ahead from the touchline to score under the posts.

With France running out of ideas and leaving gaps all over the park, Conrad Smith snuck away down an unattended blindside to rub salt into the wounds.

Man of the match: He's had a tough year and was distinctly out of form during the Tri-Nations but Sitiveni Sivivatu was back to his very best - scoring one try, setting up another and putting in some big hits.Moment of the match: For half an hour it was anyone's game, but when the All Blacks scrum stepped up and earned Jerome Kaino's try, New Zealand moved out of France's reach. It wasn't the prettiest of tries, but it had a telling effect.

Villain of the match:Planty of handbags were flung about, but there was no clear bad guy.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

I'm not even sure what led me to the delightful Jack and Levi, who make up (Pretty) Girls & Lasers but something did and I'm glad that it happened.

They are DJ duo that hail from over that American way. They spin fabulous electro-pop-clash-rave records and make girls dance. Preferably pretty one, of course.

Anyway, rather than go on and inevitably profess that they are as great as some dead philosopher, or claim that their mixes are suddenly making postmodern theory clear to me now, we shall skip that. For something exciting in the future may occur (ahem), where I can do that. So temporality aside here is there latest offering.

You can judge a country by the way it looks after its most vulnerable people and on Tuesday I saw this adage in action when I was at the inauguration of a large mental hospital in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. I got back last night from a trip to Aceh and West Sumatra provinces.

Berge Brende Secretary General Norwegian Red Cross (right above) and Erik Solheim Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Environment, Government of Norway (left)were the guests of honour and I had the privilege of spending two days with them in Aceh and Padang, West Sumatra. The Norwegian Red Cross and its Government have given generously to the Tsunami operation in Indonesia and has done some outstanding work in supporting programmes of the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI).

What I found interesting was that Berge was the former Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Environment, and was travelling with his successor Erik, from different parties at opposite ends of the political spectrum in Norway. They seemed close friends with a high respect for each other.

Iyang Sukandar, Berge Brende and Bob McKerrow having dinner in Aceh. Iyang and Berge were enjoyable travelling companions as you see and feel their commitment and passion for their work. They also have a great sense of fun and we were laughing a lot. Erik Solheim Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Environment (left) and Berge Brende (right) Secretary General Norwegian Red Cross at the site of the Norwegian Red Cross funded emergency relief warehouse in Padang. A large media team accompanied them.I travelled with Erik Solheim Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Environment from Banda Aceh to Padang and he invited me and Berge to brief him on the humanitarian situation in Aceh and West Sumatra, where we are running a large earthquake relief and recovery operation.

Work this week was a real joy, travelling with two youngish leaders from Norway who hold responsible positions and could rise higher on the international political, humanitarian or environmental stages. I was impressed with their breadth and depth of knowledge and willingness to learn. Their open mindedness was refreshing amongst today's leaders.They are following in the footsteps other great Norwegian leaders such as Fridtjof Nansen, Thorvald Stoltenberg and Dr. Monika Christensen.

Nansen, left, (10 October 1861 – 13 May 1930) a Norwegian explorer, scientist and diplomat. Nansen was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922 for his work as a League of Nations High Commissioner, who founded the United Nations Refugee organisation,

Thorvald Stoltenberg, who I spent time with in 2007 when he came to Jakarta to look at the Norwegian Red Cross Tsunami projects, is an amazing man. His son is currently Prime Minister of Norway. In his youth Thorvald Stoltenberg became heavily involved in the organization of Hungarian refugees fleeing the invading Soviet Army in 1956. In one particular situation, evacuating refugees by boat in the middle of the night, he jumped into the strong currents, risking his own life to save one of the boats. One of the other rescuers, future famous American journalist Barry Farber called this the greatest act of courage he has ever seen in his life. Stoltenberg himself kept the story a secret, until Farber in December 2006 revealed it on the Norwegian talk-show Først & sist. Monika Christensen is another great Norwegian leader, a glaciologist who almost reached the South Pole via the Axel Heiberg Glacier, in 1987, using Greenland huskies and a sledge. A fine leader with courage, vision and amazing knowledge of environmental issues.

Why am I going on about great leaders ? It is a subject I have written a number of articles on and would like to put a few thoughts down while I have your attention, and while the inspiration I got travelling with Erik and Berge. is still percolating.

Are you a leader or a manager ?.

As Dwight Eisenhower once said: "Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it".

Having had a mixed bag of leaders and managers over the years I try to jot down my observations. So many of us work for companies or organisations that are management driven, and neither promote leadership or recognise it. With B replacing B in the US of A, we are able to compare George Bush's style with Barack's.Chalk and Cheese and Night and Day are a bit hackneyed: Barack Obama is resuscitating a nation and a world. God, if ever we needed the kiss of life in leadership, that in the last five years has been like Friday's hot meal served up cold and stale on Monday, the time is nigh.

Distinctions between Manager and Leader:

The manager administers; the leader innovates.

The manager is a copy; the leader is an original.

The manager maintains; the leader develops.

The manager accepts reality; the leader investigates it.

The manager focuses on systems and structure; the leader focuses on people.

The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust.

The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective.

The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.

The manager has his or her eye always on the bottom line; the leaderhas his or her eye on the horizon.

The manager imitates; the leader originates.

The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.

The manager is the classic good soldier; the leader is his or her own person.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

A video for the new song Take That. Which I would suggest features some rather schizophrenic looking girls.

"Conceptions of schizophrenia as the loss of more real, authentic, versions of the self are typically combined with the disease models, again displaying the social nature of medicalized constructs inidivduals use to explain their lives."

Jim:

"Having one character that says one thing and another character that says another ... having two different, especially when I talk to myself, that's sort of my schizophrenia ... I imagine people talking to me, I just imagine I don't hear voices ... sometimes I hear society talking to me, yea, which is not normal [laughs]"

I'm reading about schizophrenia and attempting to deduce what, if anything, this can allude with regards to the creation of self and identity.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

It was with a great sense of relief today that I read that Irina Yun's remains were found. This extraordinary Kazakh woman who went missing on December 31, 2008 while attempting to walk the difficult Cascade Saddle track from Mt Aspiring Hut in the West Matukituki Valley, to the Dart Hut on the Dart River. Her back pack was found but at the time their was no sign of her.

Today 19 November 2009 Police have reportedly found the remains of a Russian migrant who disappeared while tramping 11 months ago in the Southern Alps. (Irina is actually of Kazakh nationality, who was iving in Auckland with her 4 year old daughter Liann when she went missing)

.An extensive search was made for Irina Yun, 36 when she was first reported missing and it continued some weeks later..

Police say a search and rescue dog handler from Oxford, Dave Krehic returned to the area on last week and conducted a private search with his dog Stig.

They subsequently located a femur and pelvis bone in the river bed wedged in between some rocks approximately three kilometres down stream of the Dart Hut.

A view of Mount Aspiring from near Cascade Saddle, the pass Irina crossed.

The Dunedin Coroner, an anthropologist and pathologist have examined the remains and have been able to confirm that the remains are that of Ms Yun.

Her next of kin have been advised.

Missing tramper's daughter Liann, 4, waits for her Mother.

When Irina went missing, I was recovering from an operation in Christchurch and got quite involved in the incident. Irina is from Kazakhstan, as is my wife. A sort of solidarity started.

She is not Uzbek - she is what we call a "Russian Korean". Her grandparents were expelled from Korean border into Kazakhi desert in winter by Chairman Stalin 70 years ago. And they survived there - with no shelters at all!

Oleg

(her ex-partner)

Friday 20 November 2009

I include an update i got from the Otago Daily Times written by By Marjorie Cook:

Search dog handler Dave Krehic's determination to find the remains of missing Auckland tramper Irina Yun (36) paid off last weekend, when his privately organised search party, including his German short- haired pointer Stig, found bones in the Dart River, about 3km-4km below the Dart Hut.

Ms Yun had been missing in the Mt Aspiring National Park since late December last year.

Further tests would be undertaken, but Ms Yun's family had been advised Ms Yun was now considered deceased.

An inquest would be held next year, Mr Crerar said.

Dave Krehic

Ms Yun, an immigrant from Kazakhstan, disappeared in a storm on December 31, while tramping the Cascade Saddle between the Aspiring and Dart Huts.

LandSar Wanaka volunteers spent 350 hours combing the exposed and difficult high country on the route, as well as gullies, river beds and gorges in the immediate area.

A tramping pack positively identified as belonging to Ms Yun was found in a gorge area of the Dart River, below the Dart Hut, on January 5.

Damage to the pack made it clear it had been torn from its wearer with considerable force and had been in the water for some time, Sergeant Aaron Nicholson said yesterday.

The search was called off because it was believed Ms Yun had been subjected to the force of the flooded Dart River and unable to survive it.

Mr Krehic, a Christchurch auto electrician and member of the Oxford search and rescue team, and Stig (8) were involved in the official search in January.

"The family didn't know, but it was of interest to me. I come from that background of being outdoors. And I met her friends at the search and wanted to do something for them," Mr Krehic said.

Mr Krehic, Stig, alpine cliff rescue specialist Masa Sato of Christchurch and Queenstown white water rescue team members Andy Pedley and Mat McLeod began their search last Friday.

They found bones, including a femur and pelvis bone, trapped between large boulders on Saturday, and police retrieved the items on Sunday.

The team also found some shorts, jandals and pieces of a pack cover nearby.

Ownership of those items has not yet been confirmed.

Mr Krehic said he did quite a bit of research before returning to the Dart River.

The rough terrain in the rocky gorge below the Dart Hut contained boulders the size of trucks, and specialist skills were needed to get through it.

The water levels were lower last weekend than in January, but the terrain was still particularly difficult for Stig, who at times had to wear a harness for his safety.

"Without Stig, we wouldn't have found them [Ms Yun's remains]. He showed some interest in an area and I asked Maso and Matt to investigate the area . . .

"He [Stig] was well worn out after two days in the gorge. We were pushing him into cracks and holes and tunnel systems that the river makes its way through in flood . . .

"But we treated him just like any other team member, which was safety first," Mr Krehic said.

On Saturday, the day of the discovery, the team started its search about 7km below Dart Hut and worked its way back up.

Within 2km the team had found the personal items, and Ms Yun's remains were found another 1km up.

Mr Krehic said he and his team-mates were prepared to pay for last weekend's search themselves, but he understood police and LandSar New Zealand were now considering helping out with helicopter expenses.

Their 4-year-old daughter Liann was getting a lot of attention from himself, her grandmother and friends, and was doing well, he said.

Now this news is out, my thoughts and prayers are with Irina's daughter Liann and her Dad Oleg. May God comfort you and may Irina rest in peace. I know the area well and couldn't think of a better place for ones spirit to rest in peace.

I salute Dave Krehic, and his dog Stig, for an amazing rescue. Dave is one of those hardy and caring outdoorsmen who deserves the highest praise for helping a grieving familiy find closure, and to solve another NZ alpine mystery.

If you would like to view some of Irina's photography, click on this website:

NEW! FOLLOW Minnie & Max on TWITTER @MinnieMaxPugs. Three Pugs, Mabel Minnie and Max demonstrate the "Pug Head Tilt." The two on the right are mine. Mabel on the left was our guest. No props were used and no necks were injured in the making of this video!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

With so much talk and hype about climate change, and of course another global conference coming up soon, it is heart-warming to see what difference one teacher can make to his school and environment.

Hendrikus Nita, principal of an elementary school in Wolodesa hamlet in East Nusa Tenggara, showed off his school with pride.

"It used to be so dry here, now it's green," Hendrikus said.The modest school, which sits at the foot of a hill 43 kilometers from the capital of Sikka regency, Maumere, has potted plants in front of the classes and banana trees around the area. The hill itself is lush with vegetation; in the 1980s, Hendrikus said, it was dry and barren.

As the school principal and the village facilitator for a Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) programme, Hendrikus is an important figure in ensuring the community is aware of the need and measures for disaster preparedness and environmental conservation.

Sikka regency in Flores, which in 1992 was hit by a strong earthquake that triggered a deadly tsunami, is prone to several natural and manmade disasters. Earthquakes, fl oods, landslides, forest fires and typhoons are among the threats to the community's lives and livelihoods.

To ensure the Wolodesa community is prepared in the case of emergencies and to help the next generation adapt to disasters, Hendrikus holds meetings with villagers and students, to raise awareness of how to be prepared when disaster strikes.

In the workshops for students, which include disaster preparedness simulations, Hendrikus asks the children and teens to assess the potential risks of disasters in the area and to locate a safe place for people to run to during a disaster.

Hendrikus said that he tried to make everyone think of the future and, as much as possible, to reduce risks relating to disasters. In one instance, he discussed the importance in conserving the environment to save water.

"If there's no water, we're the ones who will be in trouble," he said.

Water is an issue in the area, which is prone to fl ooding during the wet season and to water shortages in the dry season.

"That's why I took my students to the village's water source and planted trees there," he said. The students hiked for 2 kilometers from the school to the location of the water source.

"That's why it's best to train people who really live in the village, like teachers or the village leaders," he said.

Hendrikus said that not all village facilitators had put their knowledge about disaster risk reduction into practice.

"The hills of the neighboring village are still bald, without many trees there. That can cause flooding," he said.

Hendrikus said that some people also sometimes intentionally set fires in the forest during the dry season.

"That way they can easily spot a wild boar on the hills while they hunt the animal," he said.

"The villagers and the students here know that burning the forest is not right, because of our meetings."

Hendrikus said that he wanted to bring improvements to the village. Having led a very disciplined life since he was a child, he wants to teach his students and other teachers that discipline as well.

"I've always arrived earlier than the others," he said.

Hendrikus, who graduated from a vocational school for teachers said that he was gained his undergraduate degree in an Open University in Maumere. He drives the 43 kilometers three times a week after work.

"Even at Maumere, where people are coming from a lot closer than me, I arrive earlier than the others," he added with a smile.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

"I and my stories are completely banned by the BBC as far as children are concerned - not one story has ever been broadcast," writes Enid Blyton.

As a young boy in remote New Zealand I was brought up on milk, rugby and Enid Blyton, and every night read Noddy and Big Ears, and later, the Famous Five or the Secret Seven. Today I discovered the BBC deprived me as a boy of Enid's great stories on air. Is this something I should be consulting my lawyers about ?

Now let's be honest, most of our life and work is about Pinky-winky-Doodle-doodle Dum-dumm and the BBC deprived us from life's preparedness !

Head of the BBC schools department Jean Sutcliffe said in an internal memo dated 1938: "My impression of her (Enid Blyton left) stories is that they might do for Children's Hour but certainly not for Schools Dept, they haven't much literary value."There is rather a lot of the Pinky-winky-Doodle-doodle Dum-dumm type of name - and lots of pixies - in the original tales."

She added that they were "competently written".

In August 1940, the BBC's radio show Children's Hour rejected her play The Monkey and the Barrel Organ, saying it was "stilted and long winded".

In 1950 programme head Derek McCulloch, known as Uncle Mac, confirmed the existence of the ban in a "strictly confidential and urgent" memo.

Ms Blyton was also clearly aware of it. In a memo to a BBC producer she wrote: "I and my stories are completely banned by the BBC as far as children are concerned - not one story has ever been broadcast, and, so it is said, not one ever will be."In 1954, responding to a query from the Woman's Hour editor as to whether Blyton could be interviewed, Ms Sutcliffe said she was concerned that the BBC would become "just another victim of the amazing advertising campaign which has raised this competent and tenacious second-rater to such astronomical heights of success."

The corporation eventually decided her material was fit for broadcast and she appeared on Woman's Hour in 1963.

A new drama telling the life story of the author, starring Helena Bonham Carter, is to be broadcast on BBC Four at 2100 GMT on Monday.

Friday, November 13, 2009

The road from Termez on the Oxus River to Balkh and then over the Hindu Kush to Kabul, has inspired great writers such as Robert Byron (The Road to Oxiana) Arnold Toynbee (Between Oxus and Jumna). Fitzroy Maclean (Eastern Approaches) and the two outstanding Great Game writers, Robert Keay and Peter Hopkirk. Even Eric Newby's 'A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush' was motivated by Byron's earlier writings.

On the day the US and British forced launched their attack on Iraq, I was in the Mother of all cities, Balkh. It was also my birthday. March 21, 2003. I travelled with Ali Hassan Quoreshi and Zaman. Here is an extract from my diary and photos I have taken along that road over a 30 year period.

The entrance to The Salang tunnel as you see it coming from Mazar I Sharif, and the men who keep the road open. The Salang Pass (Persian: كتل سالنگ Kotal-e Sālang) (el. 3878 m.) is the major mountain pass connecting northern Afghanistan and Kabul province, with further connections to southern Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Salang River originates nearby and flows south.

The pass crosses the Hindu Kush but is now bypassed through the Salang tunnel, built by the Soviet Union in 1964, which runs underneath it at a height of about 3,400 m. It links Charikar and Kabul with Mazar I Sharif and Termez.

At the Blue Mosque in Mazar I Sharif on Nowruz, the fertility pole is raised. Photo: Bob McKerrow

An hour and a half after leaving Kabul the road starts climbing up towards the Hindu Kush. Photo: Bob McKerrow

River Crossing

The game of Bushkashi celebrating Nowruz in Kabul. Photo: Bob McKerrow

Jewett's Tower at Jabal Seraj. In 1911 an American Engineer camne to Jebal Seraj to install Afghanistan's first hydro-electric plant for Amir Habibullah. A.C. Jewett stayed here eight years and built his home and published a book, An American Engineer in Afghanistan. Photo: Bob McKerrow

Trip from Mazar I Sharif to Kabul 21 March 2003

Had a very informative and interesting visit to Mazar I Sharif. We were due to fly back Saturday 22 March 2003 by Red Cross flight but due to bad weather, it was cancelled. Then, we found out early Sunday that the flight was going from Mazar to Peshawar, Pakistan, and not Kabul. Not wanting to get stuck in Peshawar with events happening in Iraq, Quoreshi and I drove from Mazar I Sharif to Kabul. It was a 13 and a half hour trip

The Afghan Red Crescent Society, supported by the Federation in the north are doing a superb job with 17 very well run Mother and Child Health Clinics.

We also travelled up to Hairaton, on the banks of the Oxus (Amu Daraya River), just near the border of Uzbekistan to visit one project. I marvelled at the history of this great river.

We also went to watch Buskashi, Afghanistan's version of rugby on horseback where they use a headless goat instead of a ball. Great spectacle to watch,

With the war intensifying in Iraq I was expecting some strong protests here but things have been quiet so far. It could flare up at any time.

Trip schedule

0845 Left Mazar with its the typical planted fields mixed with desert patches and blowing sand over the road up to Gowr e Mar, just before the turn-off to Hairaton. Passed a herd of camels grazing just after the turn-off.

0915 50 km. Arrived at Kulm (Tashqurghan) famed for its covered bazaar. I worked here in 1976 after the big Kulm earthquake.. The city has a delightful backdrop of rocky peaks. We are now into ancient Afghanistan with its dried mud houses and from the exterior, it could be the 10th Century . For the next few km the road closes in with villages hemmed in by mud walled as the road narrows to Tangi Tashqurghan, that spectacular gap in high mountain walls through which flows the Tashqurghan River.

0945 Talhuki (now in Samanghan province). There is a distinct lack of animals compared to previous visits to this area.. With 4 years of drought animals have died, been sold or eaten for survival.

0955 Arrived at the outskirts of Samanghan (Aibak) where the trees were blooming with walnut and almond flowers, a hue of pink and white.

For the past 10 km I’ve seen many bomb craters on the road or in nearby fields that were dropped by the American on the fleeing Taliban/suspected Al Quaida. From Alexander's coins on sale in local bazaars, to recent US bomb craters, history is etched into every footstep of this journey.

0957 110 km Arrived in Aibak.

From here you leave the Tashqurghan River and climb up to Kotali Robatak with Mt. Robatak on the left. Grand views of the lower Hindu Kush and across parts of Hazarajat are so striking..

1025 (147 km) Aikak, a small settlement where the road has been washed out by heavy rains in the past few days, is so typical of these old roadside villages.

1040 Enter Baghlan province and drive through Shismasher with either freshly dug or recently planted fields on either side of the road.. Some still being ploughed. This village is nestled in a semi circle of snow covered mountains, the nearest a mere 8 km away.

1220 Arrived at Doshi at the confluence of the Surkhab and Anderab rivers. Here the road branches to Bamiyan and Salang. On entering Doshi there is a delightful tree lined avenue with a disappearing perspective up to the massive heights of the Hindu Kush

From here we then followed the Anderab river up into Khenjan district small, high-walled villages. Pink blossoms gladden the eye on the harsh mud and rocky landscape.

1240 Reached Khenjan where there is a checkpoint. The landscape gets steeper with small, well irrigated wheat fields..

1250 (264 km) climbed up to Walian another small and pretty village. It is surprising how high they plant the wheat fields here..

1255 (267 km) one reaches the first of three new bridges built by the Government of Uzbekistan

The second bridge at 1258 and next at 1303. These strong and smart looking bridges have done much to improve the road and passage of heavy vehicles.

Passed Char Zah the steep roadsides lined with neat rock walls, with old tanks and APC’s littering the road side (Photo above). Good to see stunted pines thriving in the harsh alpine environment, leaving some semblance of bio diversity in the alpine regions.

At about 1330 about 6 km from the tunnel a large volume of vehicles decide to play ‘Machina Bushkashi’ as an undisciplined bunch of drivers try to pass each others with wheels literally hanging over precipices to get ahead of the other car.. Hundreds of trucks lined one side of the road waiting to get through the tunnel.

The author reading from Eric Newby's ' A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush' to some local lads in the Panjsher valley. Photo: Ian Clarke.

1338 Made very little progress and now stuck in traffic. I was bursting for a pee and ventured slightly off the road to relieve myself when I saw a red rock. “Mines,” shouted an Afghan in English. The red painted rock indicated the spot where the mines had been cleared too.

1346 Moved a hundred metres or so and then stopped again.

1420 Nearing the first portal

1445 After a lot of stops and starts, through and out of the first portal.

The next hour the ‘machina bushkashi’ continued as the traffic in one direction kept trying to pass one an other, often three abreast for no gain. A real dog eats dog madness interspersed with halts.

1515 Away again, and another 100 metre gained. The car in front of us got stuck in a gaping hole which we managed to avoid.

1530 We got stuck at the second portal close to the entrance to the Salang Tunnel (on the northern side) at 3,800 metres for about 3 hours surrounded by deep snow. A beautiful place to get stuck and we enjoyed the awesome mountain scenery and the very fresh air. A complete stranger in another car shared his dried mulberries with us and then as always, Afghan hospitality is there every time you turn. It was nice to get out and talk to people in the middle of this mountain madness as cars and buses tried the impossible to pass cars that were two and sometimes three abreast, causing even a greater jam.

At 1615 the sun set behind the Hindu Kush and there was a few moments of tranquility as the evening cold starts gnawing at your bones.. Quoreshi and I seemed the only foreigners in a crowd of over 800 Afghans in buses trucks, taxis and cars.

Then it was announced by ACTED road men that a truck and convoy were coming with a dead body from the southern side, despite the road being open only in our direction. Imagine the scene of cars and buses and trucks some three abreast, having to maneuver themselves into a single lane to let a northbound convoy through. I felt there was a need for a mountain giant to appear with a barrel of oil and a crow bar, and to pour oil over all the vehicles and prise them out one by one and stack them in an orderly line. Much to my amazement, a giant wasn’t called for somehow, the vehicles slithered and maneuvered themselves in such a way that the convoy carrying the dead body managed to crawl by.

Looking down from the Salang Pass at the road which winds up from Kabul. Photo: Bob McKerrow

After about half an hour we took off our chains and joined in a race, something like a rally car race, as all and sundry raced for Jebal Seraj and distant Kabul., passing Walang and Salang villages. Looking back over my shoulder I marvelled at the view, the star studded sky and a trail of cars and bus headlights snaking down from the skyline of the Hindu Kush.

2015 Once at Jebal Seraj, after consultation with ICRC through Younis, we decided to head for Kabul as many other cars were doing the same.

What has changed in Kabul is the rainbow colour lights you see miles ahead which illuminates and indicate the many new gas stations.

Passed three checkpoints, the final one being at Khair Khanna as we entered Kabul at 2130. At this checkpoint there was a huge illuminated portrait of Ahmed Shah Massoud, watching over Kabul and its twinkling lights.

Arrived at our House in Wazi Akbar Khan just after 2200 hours.

Another way to cross the Hindu Kush is via the Khotali Anjuman which takes you from the Panjsher valley to the Anjuman valley. Crossing the pass in 1995 with Ian Clarke. Photo: Bob McKerrow

For further reading I recommend The Road to Balkh by Nancy Nancy Hatch Dupree. Afghan Tourist Organisation, 1967